EU Commission to Announce $44-Mln Humanitarian Aid to Yemen

The European Commission will announce allocation of additional 40 million euros (some $44 million at the current exchange rates) in humanitarian aid to the war-torn Yemen at the United Nations General Assembly, the commission’s press service said in a statement Wednesday.

“Today the European Commission will announce at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, its intention to allocate a further €40 million of emergency humanitarian aid to provide life-saving assistance for people in need in Yemen. The country has become one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises after a year and a half of conflict with 82% of the Yemeni population in need of assistance,” the statement said.

The EU Commission’s press service added that extra funds would come in addition to 80 million euros in aid that had been allocated to the crisis-torn nation since 2015.

Since 2014, Yemen has been gripped by the conflict between the government and Houthi rebel movement backed by some factions within the Yemeni army.

Since late March last year, a Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against Houthi positions at the request of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The ongoing conflict has caused a major humanitarian crisis in the country and has already claimed lived of some 6,500 people and injured 31,400 more, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).